A massive landslide struck a remote village in Papua New Guinea early Friday, killing at least three people, leaving many missing, damaging at least 100 houses and disrupting water, electricity and a major highway, U.N. officials said.
Authorities in the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea had not released a death toll as of Friday evening. Witnesses said the landslide struck Yambali, a village of about 3,900 people at the foot of a mountain in Enga province, as people slept, burying several houses.
Serhan Aktoprak, a U.N. official and head of the International Organization for Migration’s office in Papua New Guinea, said three bodies had been found by Friday evening, but the search had been delayed by blocked highways and heavy rockfall.
Benjamin Sipa, a senior program assistant at the U.N. agency who was in the village assessing the damage, said the landslide occurred at 3 a.m. and villagers spent all of Friday climbing over boulders larger than shipping containers in search of bodies. “We knew there were a lot of people there, but we couldn’t really count them all,” he said.
Kenneth Londe, a primary school teacher in Yambali, said he saw more than 10 houses buried under limestone debris, crushing homes, livestock, gardens and shops within a six-mile radius.
“Now the house is completely gone,” he said in an interview. “We can’t even find a roof.”
Mr. Lund said one of the dead was his 25-year-old brother. His body was found at his brother’s home at the bottom of the mountain. Mr. Lund said his brother and his family have not been found.
“We can’t believe what happened,” he said from his home about a mile from the site of the crash, where he survived. “We are still lost.”
Mr. Sipa said the area affected by the landslide is inhabited by several tribes, most of whom are subsistence farmers and people who run small businesses such as liquor shops, and they also buy and sell gold from nearby mines.
Mr Sipa said rocks continued to slide down the mountain hours after the landslide, hampering rescue efforts.
Mr Aktoprak said the rocks had blocked three streams that are used for drinking water and damaged the Porgera highway, a lifeline for surrounding areas, adding that some people displaced by the landslides were taking shelter at a local church.
Mr. Aktoprak said a team of about 50 military officers, provincial officials and members of the United Nations migration agency set out on Friday afternoon from the provincial capital, Wabag, about a two-hour drive from the province. He said they would assess the damage and deliver supplies such as water, food, shelter, hygiene kits, kitchen sets and blankets.
“Everyone is desperately trying to find missing family members,” he said. “I’m afraid the death toll could be very high.”
